Chapter 525

Souvenirs (Royal Family Version) 3
"I know it might sound strange coming from me, but… you’re very calm, Austin-sama."

While Allen and Elena were persuading Tristan-sama, I spoke to Austin-sama.
Grace-sama was watching over things on that side, so leaving them be shouldn’t be a problem.

"No, I’m quite shocked, actually. But, well… I had been hearing reports from various sources, you see."
"… Various sources?"
"Reports from civil officials, letters from the children to their mother, reports from the Ruven family, and so on. And, well… I’d made some truly extravagant predictions. Like, you’d come back having collected every type of jewel branch, or having completely conquered the Dungeon of Precious Stones. When you prepare yourself for such possibilities, you can keep relatively calm. Still, when one of those wild predictions actually comes true, it’s shocking indeed. So, you actually did finish conquering the dungeon this time?"
"… Not yet."

It seemed Austin-sama had guessed a lot about the kinds of things we might get up to.
We hadn’t gone so far as to completely clear an advanced dungeon—yet.
But honestly, I’d like to conquer one within the next few years. The kids are raring to go, and I’ve already braced myself for the uproar that will come after we clear one!

"By the way, what other predictions did you have?"
"Let’s see… perhaps that you’d obtain dragon meat."
"”We have some!””
"…………… Hm?"
"!?"

When I asked if he had any more predictions, the answer was—dragon meat!
And the kids went and blurted out that we’d actually done it.

"… Allen, Elena, you were supposed to be persuading Tristan-sama, and yet you were listening to our conversation over here?"
"”Yup!””
"You see, you always have to listen carefully to what’s being said around you."
"‘If you eavesdrop on secret conversations anytime, anywhere, it’ll pay off later!’ That’s what we were told!"
"… ‘Pay off’?"
"Good conversations!"
"Bad conversations!"
"”You use all of them to protect yourself and your family!”"
"...…"

… Rebecca-san’s teaching, I assume?
Collect good and bad intel from the surrounding conversations, and use it to protect your family. Is this the refinement of noble etiquette?

"But, Allen, Elena—it’s fine to listen carefully, but if you jump in and join the conversation right then and there, you can’t exactly use the information later, can you?"
"”Ah!”"

Realizing their mistake, the two hurriedly covered their mouths.
I suppose this counts as a learning experience in their growth.
Or rather… Rebecca-san is steadily advancing Allen and Elena’s noble education…
At this rate, I’m the one who won’t be able to keep up with their etiquette training.

"I was about to let the shock of your children’s education pass by, but! Takumi, you actually got dragon meat!?"
"Takumi! Is that true!!"
"……"

I’d hoped to gloss over it and make them forget about the dragon, but apparently Austin-sama hadn’t let it go.
And even Tristan-sama, who’d been slumped after losing to the kids’ arguments, perked right back up to join in.

"Uh… do you want to eat some?"
"”It’s yummy!””

Seeing no way to cover it up, I decided to admit it—though phrased obliquely.

"”Grilled meat and curry were both yummy~”"
"Curry!? Wait a moment! Takumi-san, the curry we had on the ship—could it be!?"
"No way! That unidentified high-rank monster meat in the curry—!?"
"”Blue Dragon!”"

Patrick-san and Matthew-san both stared at us, eyes wide.

"Hahaha~"

For now, I tried to laugh it off.

"Brother, so you’d already eaten dragon."
"No, no, no! Takumi-san never told me what kind of meat it was!"
"But it was quite delicious, wasn’t it?"
"Oh, beyond compare! Absolutely exquisite."

Isaac-san was looking at Patrick-san with a cool gaze.
… Come to think of it, Isaac-san *is* something of a gourmand—he and Cedric-san used to exchange letters using teleportation magic tools, boasting about what they’d eaten.

"I’ll treat you to some next time, Isaac-san."
"Really!?"
"Of course. Think about how you’d like it cooked, too."
"Thank you!"
"… Isaac, you sure get bold in times like this."

Seeing Isaac-san’s joy, Wald-san sighed in exasperation.
… Looks like Wald-san is the one bearing the mental strain this time. That’s unusual.

"… To think you’d even bring down a dragon…"
"Ah, I didn’t kill it."
"Hm? If you didn’t, how did you get dragon meat?"
"It was given to me. A whole one."
"Takumi, come on now. There’s no one who would just give you an entire dragon!"

Hmm… now, how much should I reveal?

"”We got it from Kaiser~”"
"Kaiser? That’s the young man who was traveling with you, right?"
"If I recall, the letter of recommendation to enter the dungeon was also for him, wasn’t it?"

Tristan-sama and the others had heard from Patrick-san’s group that Kaiser was with us, so they knew about his existence.
Since I’d like to get something that can serve as ID for him, I figured I should explain a bit more about him.
But again… how much to tell?

"… That Kaiser, to put it simply, isn’t human."
“””””Huh!?”””””
"He’s a contracted beast using a skill to take human form."
"””””!?””””

Everyone except Wald-san seemed shocked by what I said.
But this was necessary information if we were going to get him an ID—it couldn’t be avoided.

"So, if his race were to be examined, it would cause a big stir. That’s why he can’t even register as an adventurer and has no identification."
"Ta–Tak–Takumi!! Wh–what an outrageous thing to blurt out!!"
"A contracted beast who has the Humanization skill and is strong enough to defeat a Blue Dragon… I made all kinds of predictions, but you always go above and beyond them, don’t you~…"

Tristan-sama shouted in a trembling voice, while Austin-sama buried his head in his hands.
The others either froze in shock or covered their faces, each reacting in their own way.
Ah, even Wald-san was holding his head—though in his case, he already knew, so it must be for a different reason.

"… Hey, Takumi! If you were going to reveal this, you should have told me beforehand!"
"Honestly… I had no plan to."
"Hah!?"
"It just came out in the flow of conversation."
"You… honestly…"

I really didn’t expect a casual mention of dragon meat to spiral into this!

What do you think about this chapter?